Amazon RDS vs Google Cloud SQL comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google are both solutions in the Database as a Service (DBaaS) category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.2, while Google is ranked #4 with an average rating of 7.9. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 23.4% mindshare in DS, compared to Google’s 14.3% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Google users who would recommend it.

Amazon RDS

Read 56 Amazon RDS reviews

4,051 Views
4,010 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Google Cloud SQL

Read 22 Google Cloud SQL reviews

2,438 Views
2,438 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Amazon RDS

Google Cloud SQL

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

Amazon RDS and Google Cloud SQL compete in the managed database services category. Amazon RDS appears to have the upper hand due to its deployment agility and extensive feature set, though Google Cloud SQL offers more competitive pricing within Google's ecosystem.

Features: Amazon RDS provides automated backups, multi-availability zone resilience, and supports multiple database engines such as MySQL, Oracle, and PostgreSQL, simplifying deployment and scalability. Google Cloud SQL features high availability, seamless integration with Google services, and automatic scaling, although it lacks the diverse database support offered by RDS.

Room for Improvement: Amazon RDS could improve in areas like migration processes, shell access for experienced DBAs, and its pricing structure that requires careful cost provisioning. Google Cloud SQL can enhance its user interface, documentation, and connectivity with additional tools, while also improving support for data migration and advanced configuration options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both Amazon RDS and Google Cloud SQL are public cloud solutions, with Amazon RDS offering stronger hybrid and on-premises support. Customer service varies for both, influenced by the purchased support level, though Amazon is often noted for additional costs associated with comprehensive support.

Pricing and ROI: Amazon RDS tends to cost more due to its extensive capabilities, requiring careful management to avoid unexpected charges. It provides value by reducing operational overhead. Google Cloud SQL is more budget-friendly, with straightforward and lower base costs, appealing to those who prioritize cost over features. Each solution's ROI differs based on organizational needs and existing tech stacks.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon RDS vs. Google Cloud SQL Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon RDS vs. Google Cloud SQL

July 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Amazon RDS

Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Google Cloud SQL

Ranking in Database as a Service (DBaaS)

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Database as a Service (DBaaS) category, the mindshare of Amazon RDS is 23.4%, down from 26.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Google Cloud SQL is 14.3%, down from 18.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Database as a Service (DBaaS)

Featured Reviews

Samuel Ebite

AICE Graduate at alx_africa

Ensure high availability with robust encryption and seamless backups

Amazon RDS provides data encryption using services like KMS, crucial for securing high-sensitive data and meeting compliance requirements such as HIPAA or PCI DSS. The best practices we've employed with RDS help design a well-architected framework, encompassing security, encryption, scalability with multi-availability zone deployment, and operational excellence with automated backups. RDS features, such as reserved instances, storage auto-scaling, monitoring with technologies like CloudWatch, and proxies, contribute to cost optimization. The solution enhances security with IAM authentication and offers high availability to end users.

Read full review

Prathap Sankar

Analytics Delivery Manager at Tredence Inc.

Gain control and flexibility with customizable tools but has slower performance

I am majorly working in Google Cloud SQL for building my applications Google Cloud SQL provides complete customization options, along with a dashboarding tool and a comprehensive suite of tools that can be used to customize and build any application needed. The deployment model allows for…

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Amazon RDS is quite a well-managed and stable service...The initial setup was very easy."

"It's a fully managed database, so that makes our life easier from the operational standpoint. That is the key, basically."

"The IT is easy to set up, which is the best."

"It handles large-scale data migrations perfectly. Amazon RDS's performance is quite good. Charges are incurred after you utilize the service"

"The Amazon RDS features I found most valuable are snapshots and automatic backups."

"The most valuable features of Amazon RDS are its scalability, reliability, and intelligence."

"It is easy to use, flexible, and powerful."

"The solution’s scalability, usability, and availability are valuable to us."

More Amazon RDS pros

"The deployment model allows for significant control and flexibility."

"My suggestion to anyone thinking about this solution is to jump into it head-first!"

"Google Cloud SQL provides complete customization options, along with a dashboarding tool and a comprehensive suite of tools that can be used to customize and build any application needed."

"Google Cloud SQL is highly scalable."

"The most valuable feature for us is the Postgres on Google Cloud SQL since it supports most of the features we need."

"The valuable feature of Google Cloud SQL is its high availability option. The product is stable."

"The solution is easy to use. I am impressed with the tool's features and functionality."

"It supports different databases, like Postgres and MySQL."

More Google Cloud SQL pros

Cons

"Amazon RDS could improve by having more sophisticated. I use other solutions that have better technology for more difficult tasks."

"They could provide better integration for the solution with Microsoft products."

"Amazon has a policy of automatically restarting the server every seven days."

"The solution is a bit expensive."

"In the next release, it would be great to have access to core parameters to improve or tweak the performance."

"When you are using it for the first time, it is a little bit hard to configure. The first-time configuration is not very easy. It should be easier to configure. Its installation should also be simpler. Currently, its installation is very complex. With SQL Server, we have access to the SQL Server analysis services and reporting services, but such services are not available with Amazon RDS."

"I feel Amazon RDS should have a lot of functionalities to make monitoring within the database easier."

"The product's high price is an area of concern where improvements are required."

More Amazon RDS cons

"The only thing that could be better is the pricing."

"Google Cloud SQL needs to improve its support for high-end I/O operations. On-prem systems with high I/O capabilities perform better, as Google Cloud SQL takes more time to handle the same tasks."

"The monitoring part could be better."

"The product's user interface could be more user-friendly to improve the overall user experience."

"Google Cloud SQL needs to improve its support for high-end I/O operations."

"They could improve documentation and dashboard stability for efficient user experience and database management."

"In the case of Google, they need to work on a more easy interface for users."

"Google Cloud SQL still needs better connectivity to outside, existing data sources."

More Google Cloud SQL cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing of RDS is a little bit high compared to Microsoft... However, it is a good price compared to other solutions."

"We are paying for a service license."

"The product is expensive."

"By using a combination of Reserve Instances and On-Demand pricing, you can reduce the cost."

"Amazon RDS is less expensive than other solutions."

"It is less expensive than SQL Server. We pay based on the usage on a monthly basis."

"The solution is expensive."

"Amazon RDS is not a very expensive solution."

More Amazon RDS pricing and cost advice

"While the platform’s pricing may be higher, it aligns with industry standards, considering the quality of service and features provided."

"It is not expensive, especially considering the significant reduction in database management time."

"You need to pay extra costs for backup and replication."

"It's really cheap. It wouldn't be more than, I believe it's around 50 euro per month for running a cloud SQL."

"The pricing is very much an important factor as to why we use this solution."

"The solution is affordable."

"From a financial perspective, Google Cloud SQL is on the cheaper side."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

University

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

14%

University

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon RDS?

The product's installation phase is easy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon RDS?

The pricing for Amazon RDS is reasonable.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Amazon RDS?

User interface needs improvement for using IPS and cloud watch to scale and utilize read replicas, enabling performance insights to view query formats where the bottlenecks occur, identifying the f...

See all answers

What do you like most about Google Cloud SQL?

The implementation part of the product was easy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Cloud SQL?

The cost is expensive, especially for services like BigQuery, which charge based on query operations. We pay as we use, with no fixed cost.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Google Cloud SQL?

Google Cloud SQL needs to improve its support for high-end I/O operations. On-prem systems with high I/O capabilities perform better, as Google Cloud SQL takes more time to handle the same tasks. T...

See all answers

Comparisons

MongoDB Atlas vs Amazon RDS

Compared 25% of the time

Oracle Database as a Service vs Amazon RDS

Compared 19% of the time

Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs Amazon RDS

Compared 15% of the time

Google Cloud Spanner vs Amazon RDS

Compared 6% of the time

Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer vs Amazon RDS

Compared 5% of the time

More Amazon RDS Competitors

Microsoft Azure SQL Database vs Google Cloud SQL

Compared 38% of the time

MongoDB Atlas vs Google Cloud SQL

Compared 12% of the time

Oracle Database as a Service vs Google Cloud SQL

Compared 8% of the time

Google Cloud Spanner vs Google Cloud SQL

Compared 4% of the time

Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer vs Google Cloud SQL

Compared 2% of the time

More Google Cloud SQL Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Amazon RDS

July 2025

Download Amazon RDS product report

Buyer's Guide

Google Cloud SQL

July 2025

Download Google Cloud SQL product report

Also Known As

RDS

No data available

Overview

Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) is a web service that makes it easier to set up, operate, and scale a relational database in the cloud. It provides cost-efficient, resizeable capacity for an industry-standard relational database and manages common database administration tasks.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Google Cloud SQL is a fully-managed database service that makes it easy to set up, maintain, manage, and administer your relational PostgreSQL and MySQL databases in the cloud. Google Cloud SQL offers high performance, scalability, and convenience. Hosted on Google Cloud Platform, Cloud SQL provides a database infrastructure for applications running anywhere.

Google

Sample Customers

Edmodo

BeDataDriven, CodeFutures, Daffodil, GenieConnect, KiSSFLOW, LiveHive, SulAm_rica, Zync

Buyer's Guide

Amazon RDS vs. Google Cloud SQL

July 2025

Free Report: Amazon RDS vs. Google Cloud SQL

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